Rupert Murdoch and Lord Rothschild: The Oil Barons of Occupied Syria

Updated September 2, 2013

UNETHICAL JOURNALISM - FOX News supports military action against the Assad government of Syria but does not inform its viewers that the network's owner, Rupert Murdoch, is part-owner of an oil exploration company illegally exploiting the resources of Israeli-occupied Syria.

Rupert Murdoch and Lord Jacob Rothschild are major shareholders in Genie Energy, an Israeli-run company which has been granted the rights to explore for oil and gas in the southern half of the occupied Golan Heights (from the line beneath the words "Israeli occupied" down).

Efraim “Effie” Eitam is the Chairman of Genie Israel Holdings, Ltd., the holding company that oversees Genie Oil & Gas activities in Israel. Eitam is a Brigadier General (reserves) in the Israeli army and served as minister of housing and construction under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In an interview with Ha’aretz in 2002, Eitam called Palestinian citizens of Israel a "ticking bomb" and a "cancer". In 2004, Eitam called the Palestinians "dark forces" and told The New Yorker, "We will have to kill them all." This is the chairman of the company in which Rupert Murdoch and Lord Rothschild are major shareholders.

Millions of Americans get their news from FOX News, the Wall Street Journal, or through some other news outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch. FOX News and Murdoch-owned news outlets generally support U.S. military action against Syria, but they do not inform their viewers and readers that Mr. Murdoch has a vested interest in war with Syria. Rupert Murdoch is part-owner of an Israeli-American company that has been granted the rights to explore for oil on the Golan Heights – Israeli-occupied Syrian land. It is highly unethical for FOX News not to disclose this information to its viewers.

Israel has granted oil exploration rights inside Syria, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, to Genie Energy. Rupert Murdoch and Lord Jacob Rothschild are major shareholders of Genie Energy – which also has interests in shale gas in the United States and shale oil in Israel. Dick Cheney is also on the company’s advisory board.

It is illegal under international law for Israel to grant oil exploration rights on occupied territory, as Craig Murray wrote in his February 2013 article "Israel Grants Oil Rights in Syria to Murdoch and Rothschild":

For Israel to seek to exploit mineral reserves in the occupied Golan Heights is plainly illegal in international law. Japan was successfully sued by Singapore before the International Court of Justice for exploitation of Singapore’s oil resources during the Second World War. The argument has been made in international law that an occupying power is entitled to operate oil wells which were previously functioning and operated by the sovereign power, in whose position the occupying power now stands. But there is absolutely no disagreement in the authorities and case law that the drilling of new wells – let alone fracking – by an occupying power is illegal.

The fact that Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch are invested in oil exploration efforts in occupied Syria suggests that they support the overthrow of the Assad government in Damascus in order to weaken Syria and divide the nation in much the same way as Yugoslavia was dismembered in the 1990s.